List of Jews from the Arab world

From the Arab Expansion until the 1960s, Jews were a significant part of the population of Arab countries. Before 1948, an estimated 900,000 Jews lived in what are now Arab states. Here is a list of some prominent Jews from the Arab World, arranged by country of birth.

Al-Andalus

Dunash ben Labrat, commentator, poet, and grammarian
Mūsā ibn Maymūn, medieval philosopher and Torah scholar
Abu Harun Musa bin Ya'acub ibn Ezra, philosopher and linguist
Hasdai ibn Shaprut, scholar, physician, and diplomat

Algeria

Isaac Alfasi, Talmudist and posek; best known for his work of halakha[1]
Jacques Attali, economist, writer
Cheb i Sabbah, famous club DJ[2]
Lili Boniche, musician[3]
Patrick Bruel, singer, actor
Alain Chabat, actor
Hélène Cixous, feminist writer[4]
Claude Cohen-Tannoudji, physicist, Nobel prize (1997)[5]
Jacques Derrida, deconstructionist philosopher[6]
Alphonse Halimi, boxer; World Bantamweight champion[7]
Roger Hanin, film actor and director[8]
Bernard-Henri Lévy, French philosopher[9]
Enrico Macias (Gaston Ghrenassia), French singer[10]
Line Monty (Eliane Sarfati), Algerian singer[11]
Reinette l'Oranaise, famous Algerian singer from Oran. Known as one of Oran's respected artists. Best known for Nhabek Nhabek and Mazal Haï Mazal[12]

Bahrain

Menasheh Idafar, of Iraqi descent, former Bahraini/British racing driver with dual citizenship[13]
Nancy Khedouri, of Iraqi descent, current member of parliament, of Iraqi origin[14][15]
Ebrahim Daoud Nonoo, of Iraqi descent, former member of parliament[16]
Houda Ezra Nonoo, of Iraqi descent, former member of parliament and former Ambassador of Bahrain to the US[17]
Misha Nonoo, of British-Iraqi descent, US-based British-Bahraini fashion designer[18]

Egypt

André Aciman, writer and academic[19]
Guy Béart, French singer[20]
Eli Cohen, celebrated Israeli spy[21]
Sir Ronald Cohen, Egyptian-born businessman[22]
Jacques Hassoun, psychoanalyst, writer
Aura Herzog, widow of Chaim Herzog, sixth President of the State of Israel[23]
Eric Hobsbawm, historian (Jewish-Polish and -German parents living in Cairo)[24]
Isaac Israeli ben Solomon, physician and philosopher living in the Arab world
Edmond Jabès, poet
Paula Jacques, writer, journalist, radio show producer[25]
Jacqueline Kahanoff, writer
Ranan Lurie, political cartoonist[26]
Moshe Marzouk, doctor[27]
Togo Mizrahi, film director, actor, writer, and producer
Roland Moreno, engineer, inventor of the Smart Card
Layla Murad, singer
Haim Saban, TV producer
Saadia ben Yosef, rabbi
Sylvain Sylvain (Sylvain Mizrahi), guitarist for New York Dolls
Bat Ye'or, historian
Avraham Yosef, rabbi
Yaakov Yosef, rabbi
Ahmed Zayat, entrepreneur and owner of Zayat Stables LLC

Iraq

Ovadia Yosef

Many Tannaim and Amoraim, including:
- Abba Arika, "Rabh", amora
- Shmuel Yarchina'ah, "Mar Samuel", or Samuel of Nehardea, amora
- Rav Huna
- Rav Chisda
- Abaye, amora
- Rav Papa, amora
- Rav Ashi (Abana), rav, amora
Anan ben David, founder of Qara'ism
Sir Sassoon Eskell
Alan Yentob, television executive, broadcaster
Avi Shlaim, Oxford Professor
Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, politician
Dodai ben Nahman, scholar
Shlomo Hillel, diplomat and politician[28]
Ya'qub Bilbul, poet
Sir Sassoon Eskell, statesman and financier
Marcus Samuel, 1st Viscount Bearsted, Lord Mayor of London, businessman
Naeim Giladi, writer
Sir Naim Dangoor, entrepreneur and philanthropist
N.J. Dawood, translator of Koran
Hakham Yosef Chayyim of Baghdad, "Ben Ish Chai"
Yitzchak Kadouri, rabbi and kabbalist
Yitzhak Yamin, painter and sculptor
Hila Klein, member of American-Israeli husband and wife duo h3h3Productions, best known for their YouTube channel of the same name. Family is of mixed Libyan and Iraqi Jewish heritage
Elie Kedourie, historian
Jessica Meir, astronaut, physiologist
Sami Michael^*, writer
Shafiq Ades, wealthy businessman
Samir Naqqash, novelist
Selim Zilkha, entrepreneur
Maurice & Charles Saatchi, advertising executives
Yona Sabar, scholar, linguist and researcher
David Sassoon, merchant, and Sassoon family
Yaakov Chaim Sofer, rabbi
Ovadia Yosef, rabbi

Kuwait

Saleh and Daoud Al-Kuwaity, singers of Iranian-Iraqi descent [29]

Libya

George Borba, footballer
Hila Klein, member of American-Israeli husband and wife duo h3h3Productions, best known for their YouTube channel of the same name. Family is of mixed Libyan and Iraqi Jewish heritage [30]
Moses Hacmon, Israeli artist and architect. Family is of mixed Libyan Jewish, Turkish Jewish and Iraqi Jewish heritage

Lebanon

David Nahmad, backgammon champion and art dealer[31]
Yfrah Neaman, violinist
Gad Saad, evolutionary behavioral scientist[32][33]
Edmond Safra, billionaire banker[34]
Jacob Safra, founder of Jacob E. Safra Bank[35]
Joseph Safra, chairman of all Safra companies[36]

Morocco

Rabbi Shlomo Amar

Michel Abitbol, academic at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Amram Aburbeh, Sephardi Dayan, Scholar Chief Rabbi of Petah Tikva born in Tetouan. Best known of his work Netivei-Am
Shlomo Amar, Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Israel
Robert Assaraf, historian and writer
André Azoulay, advisor to Kings Hassan II and Mohammed VI
Shlomo Ben-Ami, Israeli diplomat, politician and author born in Tangier
Ralph Benmergui, Canadian media personality, born in Tangier
Raphael Berdugo, dayan, scholar, and rabbi
Salomon Berdugo, poet and rabbi from Meknes
Frida Boccara, singer from Casablanca
Aryeh Deri, Israeli politician, a former leader of Shas Party
Edmond Amran El Maleh, writer
André Elbaz, painter and filmmaker from El Jadida
Gad Elmaleh, humorist, actor
Serge Haroche, Nobel-winning physicist
David Hassine, liturgic poet and rabbi
Dunash ben Labrat, grammarian, poet
David Levy, Israeli politician
Nahum Ma'arabi, Hebrew poet and translator of the 13th century
Chalom Messas, Grand Rabbi of Morocco until 2003
David Messas, Grand Rabbi of Paris since 1995
Amir Peretz, Israeli politician, leader of the Labour Party
David Rebibo, congregational rabbi and Jewish day school dean in Phoenix, Arizona
Baba Sali, rabbi
Abraham Serfaty, political activist
Meir Sheetrit, Israeli politician of Kadima
Avi Toledano, singer who competed at the Eurovision Song Contest
Mordechai Vanunu, Israeli dissident (converted to Christianity)

Arabia

Samaw'al ibn 'Adiya (Samuel ibn 'Adiya), poet, warrior[37]
David Reubeni, false messiah

Sudan

Nessim Gaon, financier[38]

Syria

Ezra Attiya, rabbi and rosh yeshiva[39]
Émile Benveniste, linguist

Tunisia

Dove Attia, French-Tunisian musical television producer
Max Azria, French-Tunisian fashion designer, founder of BCBG
Roger Bismuth, Tunisian senator
Alain Boublil, French musical theatre lyricist and librettist
Michel Boujenah, French Tunisian comedian and humorist
Paul Boujenah, French-Tunisian film director
Dany Brillant, French singer
Claude Challe, French club impresario and DJ
Pierre Darmon, French tennis player
Jacques Haïk, French producer
Gisèle Halimi, Tunisian lawyer and essayist
Élie Kakou, French actor and humorist
Pierre Lellouche, French politician
Albert Memmi, French novelist & sociologist
Habiba Msika, Tunisian singer, dancer and actress
Victor Perez, Tunisian boxing world champion
Silvan Shalom, Israeli politician and former Foreign Minister of Israel
René Trabelsi, Tunisian Politician
Nissim Zvili, Israeli politician and diplomat

Yemen

Rabbi Nethanel ben Isaiah[40][41]
Rabbi Jacob ben Nathanael
Shoshana Damari, was an Israeli singer.[42]
Ofra Haza, famous Israeli singer[43]
Rabbi Yosef Qafih rabbi and leader of Baladi Yemenite Jewish community
Abdullah ibn Saba, converted to Islam (born Jewish)[44]
Rabiah ibn Mudhar & Dhu Nuwas, kings of Himyarite
Wahb bin Munabbih (?–732), converted to Islam (born Persian Jew)[45]
Rabbi Shalom Shabazi, rabbi and poet[46]
Rabbi Shalom Sharabi[47]
Rabbi Yihya Yitzhak HaLevi
Rabbi Shlomo Korah, chief rabbi of Bnei Brak.
Rabbi Azarya Basis, chief rabbi of Rosh HaAyin.
Rabbi Shimon Baadani, leading Sephardi rabbi and rosh kollel in Israel.
Rabbi Avraham Al-Naddaf, One of the leaders of Yemenite Jews in Jerusalem and Israel.
Rabbi Chaim Kasar, was the head of the Beit Alshikh and Beit Sharabi yeshivas in Yemen and authored a commentary on "Shem Tov" on Maimonides.
Rabbi Yihya Al-Shech Halevi, Yemeni rabbi.
Rabbi Amnon Yitzhak

Footnotes

Leonard Levy, R. Yitzhaq Alfasi's application of principles of adjudication in Halakhot Rabbati, footnotes 11-27
Gaurav (April 21, 2002). "Cheb i Sabbah: 'Krishna Lila' and Everything Else". Asian Vibrations. Archived from the original on May 29, 2008. Retrieved September 13, 2007.
"BONICHE Eliaou". Retrieved 11 July 2020.
"Hélène Cixous". Jewish Women's Archive. Retrieved 2014-01-17.
"Claude Cohen-Tannoudji - French physicist". Retrieved 4 October 2018.
Peeters, Benoît (2012). Derrida: A Biography. Polity. pp. 12–13. Jackie was born at daybreak, on 15 July 1930, at El Biar, in the hilly suburbs of Algiers, in a holiday home. [...] The boy's main forename was probably chosen because of Jackie Coogan ... When he was circumcised, he was given a second forename, Elie, which was not entered on his birth certificate, unlike the equivalent names of his brother and sister. OCLC 980688411, 844437566, 818721033 See also Bennington, Geoffrey (1993). Jacques Derrida. The University of Chicago Press. p. 325. 1930 Birth of Jackie Derrida, July 15, in El-Biar (near Algiers, in a holiday house)..
"Alphonse Halimi". International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame.
Hal Erickson (2015). "Roger Hanin". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. Archived from the original on 13 February 2015. Retrieved 12 February 2015.
Kirsch, Jonathan. "Bernard-Henri Lévy bares his Jewish soul." Jewish Journal. 11 January 2017. 17 January 2017.
(in French) Le Malouf Constantinois Archived 28 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine
Line Monty - La Française qui chante si bien l'arabe at jechantemagazine.net, retrieved May 10th 2019
Langlois, Tony (2015). Davis, Ruth F. (ed.). Musical Exodus: Al-Andalus and Its Jewish Diasporas. Scarecrow Press. p. 155. ISBN 978-0-8108-8176-1.
"Drivers". Official site of the British F3 International Series. Retrieved 15 January 2011.
Ismaeel Naar, Retracing Bahrain’s Jewish contributions to Gulf economics and politics, Alarabiya.net, 26 February 2017
Michael Slackman, In a Landscape of Tension, Bahrain Embraces Its Jews. All 36 of Them., Nytimes.com, 5 April 2009
בחריין: יהודיה תכהן בפרלמנט (in Hebrew). Walla!. 6 December 2006. Retrieved 2006-12-07.
Nora Boustany. "Barrier-Breaking Bahraini Masters Diplomatic Scene", The Washington Post, December 19, 2008.
Doherty, Rosa (28 November 2017). "Meet Misha Nonoo – the Jewish 'matchmaker' who brought Harry and Meghan together". The Jewish Chronicle. London. Retrieved 20 May 2018.
Baker, Zachary M. (2009). "Presidential Lectures: André Aciman". Stanford Presidential Lectures. Retrieved 5 September 2017.
Jon Henley (17 October 2007). "The kiss of death". The Guardian. UK. Retrieved 5 May 2011.
"Eli Cohen (1924–1965)". Jewish Virtual Library. Retrieved 8 May 2019.
Mathiason, Nick (4 November 2007). "The high priest of money-making". The Observer. Retrieved 5 November 2015.
Cashman, Greer Fay (2012-04-25). "All in the Family". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 2017-09-09.
Palmer, Bryan D. (Spring 2020). "Hobsbawm's Century". Catalyst. 4 (1). Retrieved 8 July 2020.
Alan Astro (2009). Paula Jacques. Jewish Women: A Comprehensive Historical Encyclopedia
Cartoonews Archived June 11, 2013, at the Wayback Machine
Nash, Jay Robert (1997). Spies: A Narrative Encyclopedia of Dirty Tricks and Double Dealing from Biblical Times to Today. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 370. ISBN 0871317907.
"A Story of Successful Absorption : Aliyah from Iraq". www.wzo.org.il. Retrieved 2021-05-15.
Dudu Tassa & the Kuwaitis, official band website
, video discussing ancestry
Peter Aspden (December 21, 2012), Art dealer who bought and sold with immaculate timing Financial Times.
"Story Profile - Passages Canada". passagestocanada.com.
Jack Anderson (Sep 17, 1985). "Caught in the cross-fire". Lewiston Daily Sun. p. 3.
Edmond Safra (1954) and Edmond Safra (1954) information from the National Archives, Rio de Janeiro. Scan of Edmond Safra's Brazilian entry visa on 1954 on familysearch.org
Anthony, Andrew (2000). "The strange case of Edmond Safra". Theguardian.com.
Joseph Safra (1956) and Joseph Safra (1956), information from the National Archives, Rio de Janeiro. Scan of Joseph Safra's Brazilian entry visa on 1954 on familysearch.org
David Samuel Margoliouth, A poem attributed to Al-Samau’al, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society: London, 1906
Mufson, Steve (July 19, 1984). "Nigerian Reverses Stun Commodities Trader". The Wall Street Journal.
"Remembering Harav Ezra Attiya, Rosh Yeshivas Porat Yosef". Binah Bunch, 11 May 2009.
"Eben Sappir," i. 67a, Lyck, 1866.
Steinschneider, "Verzeichnis," p. 62.
Encyclopedia of Jewish Women: Shoshana Damari
Satenstein, Liana (14 May 2020). "The Ancient Beauty of Yemenite Wedding Ceremonies, Up Close". Vogue. Retrieved November 22, 2020.
Anthony, Sean (2011-11-25). The Caliph and the Heretic: Ibn Saba' and the Origins of Shi'ism. BRILL. p. 71. ISBN 9789004209305. Equally impressive, perhaps, is the sobriety with which Imami sources confirm the heresiarch's Jewish identity, as well as how salient this datum persists through the heresiographical literature, and this despite Sunni polemics against Shi'ism as being polluted by Judaic beliefs. Indeed, of all the components of Ibn al-Sawda's identity proffered by Sayf, that he was a Jew enjoys the broadest attestation elsewhere by far.
Jacobs, Joseph. "WAHB IBN MUNABBIH (Abu 'Abd Allah al-Ṣana'ani al-Dhimari)". Jewish Encyclopedia.
Avraham al-Nadaf, Hoveret (Composition), Jerusalem 1928, p. 1; reprinted in Zekhor Le'Avraham, Jerusalem 1992, p. 1 of Part II (Hebrew); includes the author's note, where he adds concerning Shabazi's lineage: "Thus did R. Yefeth b. Saʻadia Sharʻabi tell me, may G-d keep him, who saw the said genealogy in a certain book belonging to our Rabbi Sholem in his house of study in the town of Taʻiz."
"Jewish History: Shevat 10". aishcom. 21 May 2009. Retrieved 2020-02-06.

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[levy-1] Leonard Levy, R. Yitzhaq Alfasi's application of principles of adjudication in Halakhot Rabbati, footnotes 11-27

[2] Gaurav (April 21, 2002). "Cheb i Sabbah: 'Krishna Lila' and Everything Else". Asian Vibrations. Archived from the original on May 29, 2008. Retrieved September 13, 2007.

[3] "BONICHE Eliaou". Retrieved 11 July 2020.

[jwa-4] "Hélène Cixous". Jewish Women's Archive. Retrieved 2014-01-17.

[5] "Claude Cohen-Tannoudji - French physicist". Retrieved 4 October 2018.

[Jackie-6] Peeters, Benoît (2012). Derrida: A Biography. Polity. pp. 12–13. Jackie was born at daybreak, on 15 July 1930, at El Biar, in the hilly suburbs of Algiers, in a holiday home. [...] The boy's main forename was probably chosen because of Jackie Coogan ... When he was circumcised, he was given a second forename, Elie, which was not entered on his birth certificate, unlike the equivalent names of his brother and sister. OCLC 980688411, 844437566, 818721033 See also Bennington, Geoffrey (1993). Jacques Derrida. The University of Chicago Press. p. 325. 1930 Birth of Jackie Derrida, July 15, in El-Biar (near Algiers, in a holiday house)..

[7] "Alphonse Halimi". International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame.

[8] Hal Erickson (2015). "Roger Hanin". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. Archived from the original on 13 February 2015. Retrieved 12 February 2015.

[9] Kirsch, Jonathan. "Bernard-Henri Lévy bares his Jewish soul." Jewish Journal. 11 January 2017. 17 January 2017.

[10] (in French) Le Malouf Constantinois Archived 28 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine

[jechante-11] Line Monty - La Française qui chante si bien l'arabe at jechantemagazine.net, retrieved May 10th 2019

[12] Langlois, Tony (2015). Davis, Ruth F. (ed.). Musical Exodus: Al-Andalus and Its Jewish Diasporas. Scarecrow Press. p. 155. ISBN 978-0-8108-8176-1.

[13] "Drivers". Official site of the British F3 International Series. Retrieved 15 January 2011.

[alarabiya_retracing-14] Ismaeel Naar, Retracing Bahrain’s Jewish contributions to Gulf economics and politics, Alarabiya.net, 26 February 2017

[15] Michael Slackman, In a Landscape of Tension, Bahrain Embraces Its Jews. All 36 of Them., Nytimes.com, 5 April 2009

[16] בחריין: יהודיה תכהן בפרלמנט (in Hebrew). Walla!. 6 December 2006. Retrieved 2006-12-07.

[17] Nora Boustany. "Barrier-Breaking Bahraini Masters Diplomatic Scene", The Washington Post, December 19, 2008.

[Docherty-18] Doherty, Rosa (28 November 2017). "Meet Misha Nonoo – the Jewish 'matchmaker' who brought Harry and Meghan together". The Jewish Chronicle. London. Retrieved 20 May 2018.

[19] Baker, Zachary M. (2009). "Presidential Lectures: André Aciman". Stanford Presidential Lectures. Retrieved 5 September 2017.

[20] Jon Henley (17 October 2007). "The kiss of death". The Guardian. UK. Retrieved 5 May 2011.

[EliCohen_JVL-21] "Eli Cohen (1924–1965)". Jewish Virtual Library. Retrieved 8 May 2019.

[Observer-22] Mathiason, Nick (4 November 2007). "The high priest of money-making". The Observer. Retrieved 5 November 2015.

[jp1ost-23] Cashman, Greer Fay (2012-04-25). "All in the Family". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 2017-09-09.

[palmer-24] Palmer, Bryan D. (Spring 2020). "Hobsbawm's Century". Catalyst. 4 (1). Retrieved 8 July 2020.

[r1-25] Alan Astro (2009). Paula Jacques. Jewish Women: A Comprehensive Historical Encyclopedia

[26] Cartoonews Archived June 11, 2013, at the Wayback Machine

[27] Nash, Jay Robert (1997). Spies: A Narrative Encyclopedia of Dirty Tricks and Double Dealing from Biblical Times to Today. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 370. ISBN 0871317907.

[28] "A Story of Successful Absorption : Aliyah from Iraq". www.wzo.org.il. Retrieved 2021-05-15.

[29] Dudu Tassa & the Kuwaitis, official band website

[30] , video discussing ancestry

[autogenerated1-31] Peter Aspden (December 21, 2012), Art dealer who bought and sold with immaculate timing Financial Times.

[32] "Story Profile - Passages Canada". passagestocanada.com.

[33] Jack Anderson (Sep 17, 1985). "Caught in the cross-fire". Lewiston Daily Sun. p. 3.

[34] Edmond Safra (1954) and Edmond Safra (1954) information from the National Archives, Rio de Janeiro. Scan of Edmond Safra's Brazilian entry visa on 1954 on familysearch.org

[35] Anthony, Andrew (2000). "The strange case of Edmond Safra". Theguardian.com.

[36] Joseph Safra (1956) and Joseph Safra (1956), information from the National Archives, Rio de Janeiro. Scan of Joseph Safra's Brazilian entry visa on 1954 on familysearch.org

[37] David Samuel Margoliouth, A poem attributed to Al-Samau’al, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society: London, 1906

[:0-38] Mufson, Steve (July 19, 1984). "Nigerian Reverses Stun Commodities Trader". The Wall Street Journal.

[39] "Remembering Harav Ezra Attiya, Rosh Yeshivas Porat Yosef". Binah Bunch, 11 May 2009.

[40] "Eben Sappir," i. 67a, Lyck, 1866.

[41] Steinschneider, "Verzeichnis," p. 62.

[jwa.org-42] Encyclopedia of Jewish Women: Shoshana Damari

[43] Satenstein, Liana (14 May 2020). "The Ancient Beauty of Yemenite Wedding Ceremonies, Up Close". Vogue. Retrieved November 22, 2020.

[Anthony-44] Anthony, Sean (2011-11-25). The Caliph and the Heretic: Ibn Saba' and the Origins of Shi'ism. BRILL. p. 71. ISBN 9789004209305. Equally impressive, perhaps, is the sobriety with which Imami sources confirm the heresiarch's Jewish identity, as well as how salient this datum persists through the heresiographical literature, and this despite Sunni polemics against Shi'ism as being polluted by Judaic beliefs. Indeed, of all the components of Ibn al-Sawda's identity proffered by Sayf, that he was a Jew enjoys the broadest attestation elsewhere by far.

[JEnc-45] Jacobs, Joseph. "WAHB IBN MUNABBIH (Abu 'Abd Allah al-Ṣana'ani al-Dhimari)". Jewish Encyclopedia.

[46] Avraham al-Nadaf, Hoveret (Composition), Jerusalem 1928, p. 1; reprinted in Zekhor Le'Avraham, Jerusalem 1992, p. 1 of Part II (Hebrew); includes the author's note, where he adds concerning Shabazi's lineage: "Thus did R. Yefeth b. Saʻadia Sharʻabi tell me, may G-d keep him, who saw the said genealogy in a certain book belonging to our Rabbi Sholem in his house of study in the town of Taʻiz."

[47] "Jewish History: Shevat 10". aishcom. 21 May 2009. Retrieved 2020-02-06.